Rose mix cake is nothing but adding rose mix (rose essence and colour) instead of other essence in the eggless cake. This tastes different and those who like rose flavor will enjoy this cake. The cake looks attractive and beautiful with pink colour.

Rose is known as ‘Gulab’ in Hindi.

Ingredients

• All purpose flour – 1 cup
• Condensed milk – 1 cup
• Salt less butter – one third (⅓) cup
• Cashew nut – 10 to 12 no
• Baking powder – 1 teaspoon
• Warm milk – 2 to 3 tablespoon
• Rose mix (colour with essence) – three fourth (¾) of a teaspoon
• Baking soda – half teaspoon
• Salt – pinch

Method

• Sieve all purpose flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder; split each cashew nut in to two; keep some for garnishing on the top; chop remaining cashew.

• Bring the butter to room temperature; add condensed milk, rose mix and warm milk.

• Beat well till all mix together.

• Add flour, chopped cashew nut and mix well.

• Grease any container of your choice; pour cake mix and arrange split cashew nut as you like on the top by slightly pressing them.

• Pre heat the oven and bake it at 180 degree Celsius for 25 to 30 minutes.

• Check with a tooth pick to know the cake is baked well (the tooth pick should come out clean); invert and take out the cake.

• Now Eggless Rose Mix (Gulabi) Cake is ready.

• Now Serve with tea or coffee.

Tips

• As condensed milk’s sweetness is enough, I didn’t add extra sugar. Those who want it to be more sweet, may add quarter cup of sugar.

Roasted spicy tapioca makes an excellent side dish or it can be even taken as a snack. Here I have boiled tapioca and then roasted it by adding spices and it almost tastes like potatoes.

Tapioca is known as Kappa Kizhangu (கப்ப கிழங்கு) or Maravalli Kizhangu (மரவள்ளி கிழங்கு) in Tamil.

Here is raw tapioca, cut and boiled.

Ingredients

• Tapioca (cut, boiled and peeled) – 1 medium size
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – quarter teaspoon
• Red chilli powder – half teaspoon
• Fennel seeds – quarter teaspoon
• Curry leaves – few
• Salt – as per taste
• Oil – 1 teaspoon

Method

• Add salt, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder and turmeric powder with tapioca pieces; mix well by sprinkling few drops of water and keep for ten minutes.

• Heat a pan with oil and do the seasoning with fennel seeds and curry leaves; add tapioca pieces.

• Fry in low/medium flame till tapioca is roasted well.

• Serve hot as side dish or as a snack with tea.

Tips

• Use non stick pan for less oil consumption.

Panai kizhangu (பனை கிழங்கு in Tamil) or panang kizhangu (பனங்கிழங்கு in Tamil) is nothing but sprouts of palm seeds below the ground. In south India and Sri Lanka, these fibrous and nutritious panang kizhangu are boiled and relished. Most of the youngsters are not aware of this.

The outer skin of panang kizhangu is removed and washed well before boiling it. It gives a nice aroma when it is boiled.

Boiled Panai/Panang Kizhangu (Sprouts of Asian Palmyra Palm) suits as evening snacks or even for breakfast. It is healthy as it is simply boiled.

Ingredients

• Panam kizhangu – 6 no
• Turmeric powder – half teaspoon
• Salt – 1 teaspoon

Method

• Remove skin and wash.

• Trim the edges and pressure cook in salt, turmeric powder added water for 15 minutes minimum.

• Remove and allow it to cool till warm.

• Cut it into pieces (while cutting, the hard center stem and thin layer of skin comes out easily; treat that as waste – second photo shown below).

• Serve as it is. Chutney or sauce is not needed.

I prefer to include more vegetables in my menu to make it more colourful and healthy. Here is Pearl Millet (Kambu) and Corn (Cholam) Paniyaram with colourful veggies, pearl millet and American sweet corn.

Pearl millet batter used to prepare Idli/Dosa, can be used to prepare this paniyaram.

Corn is known as ‘cholam’ (சோளம்) in Tamil.

Ingredients

• Pearl millet (dosa consistency) batter – 2 cup
• American sweet corn boiled – 1 cup
• Chopped capsicum red/yellow/green – 1 tablespoon each
• Onion chopped – 1 tablespoon
• Green chilli chopped – 2 no
• Ginger chopped – half teaspoon
• Coriander and curry leaves chopped – 1 tablespoon
• Salt – if needed as the batter contains salt
• Oil – little to cook paniyaram

Method

• Mix all given ingredients except oil in a bowl.

• Heat paniyaram pan and add few drops of oil in each pit; add spoonful of batter in each pit; by using a spoon or fork, turn and cook both sides; remove when done.

• To make paniyarams more attractive, you can place few corns at the bottom of each pit of the pan; then pour the batter, sprinkle few drops of oil in each pit and cook both sides.

• Here are Pearl Millet (Bajra/Kambu) and Corn (Cholam) Paniyarams.

• Serve hot with any sauce or chutney.

• Here is the cutaway section of Pearl Millet (Bajra/Kambu) and Corn (Cholam) Paniyaram.

Here is simple, easy to cook Boiled Tapioca/Maravalli/Kappa Kizhangu for breakfast or as tea-time snack.

Tapioca or cassava is an edible root. In Kerala and in some parts of Tamil nadu, it is consumed as boiled roots with curries. Starch obtained from this is used in sago preparation. Sago or Sabudana or Jawarisi is used in making puddings and other savories. Tapioca is gluten free and has vitamin B9, calcium, iron and omega acids with dietary fiber. Tapioca is also used to make yummy chips.

Tapioca is known as Kappa Kizhangu (கப்ப கிழங்கு) or Maravalli Kizhangu (மரவள்ளி கிழங்கு) in Tamil.

Ingredients

• Tapioca medium size – 1 no
• Salt – as per taste

Method

• Wash tapioca well and cut into pieces as needed.

• Boil for 10 minutes in (salt added) water or till cooked.

• Peel the skin.

• Cut into small pieces and serve warm (here it is shown with tea).

Here is eggless Vegetarian Omelette as a perfect dish for breakfast. It can be healthy, tasty and attractive by adding colourful vegetables like greens, carrot, tomato, bell pepper and cheese.

Ingredients

• Gram flour/besan – 1 cup
• Chopped onion – 1 tablespoon
• Chopped coriander leaves – 1 tablespoon
• Chopped bell peppers (red, green, yellow) – 1 tablespoon each
• Chopped green chilli – 1 tablespoon
• Cheese cubes – 2 no
• Cooking soda – pinch
• Black pepper powder – generous pinch
• Cumin powder – pinch
• Asafetida – pinch
• Carom seeds – few (optional)
• Turmeric powder – pinch
• Salt – as per taste
• Oil – to cook omelette

Method

• Grate cheese cubes and keep; add turmeric powder, pepper powder, cumin powder, cooking soda, carom seeds, asafetida, salt with gram flour/besan.

• Mix with water to make a batter of dosa consistency; add and mix all chopped vegetables including green chilli, coriander leaves in the batter.

• Heat a flat pan with little oil; spread the batter as thin as possible.

• Sprinkle some oil and cook both sides for one or two minutes.

• Top up with grated cheese and serve hot with any sauce.

Millets are less-glycemic grains with more dietary fibers and are very good for health. In south India it is ground with black lentils and cooked as crepes/dosa(dosai) for breakfast. I include millets in the menu as far as possible in my family.

Pearl Millet is known as ‘Kambu’ (கம்பு) in Tamil and as ‘Bajra’ in Hindi.

Ingredients

• Pearl millet/kambu/bajra – 3 cup
• Rice – 1 cup
• Black lentils/urad dal – 1 cup
• Fenugreek seeds – half teaspoon
• Salt – as per taste
• Oil – to grease dosa pan

Method

• Soak pearl millet and rice for 5 to 6 hours; soak black lentils and fenugreek for one hour.

• Grind to a fine thick paste separately; here grinding of soaked black lentils and fenugreek is shown.

• Here grinding of soaked pearl millet and rice is shown.

• Add both, add salt and mix well; keep it for fermentation 8 to 10 hours minimum.

• Now mix well; if needed add little water to adjust the consistency as that of normal rice-dosa batter; grease a pan with oil and heat; spread a ladle of batter evenly and sprinkle oil; cook both sides till crisp.

• Crispy, healthy Pearl Millet Crepes (Kambu/Bajra Dosa) are ready. Serve with chutney.

Tablets have started replacing menu cards in the restaurants. Presto Tablets of E la Carte can be used to select and order dishes of your choice. After ordering the dishes, same tablet can be used for playing games till the dishes are served. After dining, same tablet can be used to make instant payments electronically using credit/debit cards without wasting your time. The receipt automatically reaches your email account. In addition, presto tablets have complete details about the dishes available in the restaurant including calorie count.

Presto tablets

• are powered by an 18 hour long battery.
• have a built-in credit card reader.
• has a unique adjustable stand to play games.

View a video clip from You Tube: New Restaurant Ordering Tablets on the Menu

For more details about Presto tablets, log on to E la Carte.

Note: Image shown above is not Presto Tablet. It is the image of E la Carte website viewed in a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet.

Baby potatoes and oregano seasoning make a wonderful combo and potatoes taste very good with this seasoning. Oregano is known for its medicinal value and flavor. Oregano is used in many cuisines for its flavor and digestive property. Can you imagine a pizza without oregano sprinkle ?

This Oregano Seasoned Baby Potato looks nice and tempting with tiny potatoes. If you have big potatoes, they can be cut and used in this and the taste won’t differ.

Ingredients

• Baby potatoes – 400 gram
• Oregano seasoning – 1 heaped table spoon
• Chilli flakes – 1 table spoon
• Garlic – 2 cloves
• Medium size onion – 2 no
• Turmeric powder – half teaspoon
• Pepper powder – half teaspoon
• Cooking oil – 1 table spoon
• Salt – as per taste

Method

• Wash and boil potatoes with enough water.

• Cool and peel the skin; chop onion and garlic finely.

• Heat oil in a wide pan; add garlic, onion, salt and stir fry.

• Add peeled potatoes; add chilli flakes, oregano, turmeric powder and pepper powder.

• Stir fry for few minutes till spices blend well as potatoes are already boiled.

• Serve hot.

• If you have big potatoes, cut into half or quarter pieces and season with oregano, chilli flakes.

• Serve hot.

Tips

• This potato fry is a hot and spicy dish. So adjust the seasoning as per your need.

Figs are well known for their nutritive value and they give a lovely taste and delicious flavor when they are added in cakes. Dried figs are easily available in the market. The crunchiness of the seeds in dried figs give different feel while we eat them.

This Upside Down Dried Figs and Orange Cake that I baked was so soft and moist, I feel it is worthy to bake this cake often.

Ingredients

• All purpose flour/maida – 2 cup
• Powdered sugar – 1 cup
• Unsalted butter – half cup
• Warm water – half cup
• Dried figs – 16 no
• Orange – 1 no
• Semolina/rava – 2 tablespoon
• Baking powder – one and half teaspoon
• Baking soda – 1 teaspoon
• Honey – 2 tablespoon
• Salt – pinch

Method

• Soak dried figs in warm water for 15 minutes, drain and keep.

• Keep half of the figs to spread in the cake mould; coarsely grind the remaining figs; grate the orange skin slightly and keep the zest of one orange; squeeze the juice also from orange and keep.

• Take butter, orange juice, little warm water in a jar and blend well by using a blender.

• Sieve all purpose flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder twice and mix well; add semolina, orange zest, honey, coarsely ground fig with the flour.

• Mix well; now add blended butter-orange juice mixture with the flour and mix gently.

• Take a round cake mould, grease and lightly dust it with all purpose flour; place the figs in the bottom as shown; pour the cake mix above this slowly and spread it evenly.

• Bake it for 160 degree Celsius for 30 minutes; check with a tooth pick; if it comes clean, then the cake is ready.

• Cool for few minutes, invert it on a tray.

• Now Upside Down Dried Figs and Orange Cake is ready.

• Cut and serve.